Scourge of War - Brandy Station

Description

Brandy Station DLC contains:

• 10 Single player scenarios

• 5 Multiplayer scenarios

• Brandy Station's remastered map

• Two Brandy Station OOBs (Historical and Full)

The Battle of Brandy Station was the largest cavalry battle ever fought in North America, with more than 17,000 cavalrymen engaged-9,500 Confederate cavalry under Major General J. E. B. Stuart against 8,000 Union cavalry supported by 3,000 infantry under Major General Alfred Pleasonton. In a war where cavalry usually fought dismounted at long range, the Battle of Brandy Station was an unusually savage affair, with swirling melees between troopers fighting horse-to-horse with sabers and pistols. Fought on June 9, 1863, it marked the opening of the decisive Gettysburg Campaign.

After the Battle of Chancellorsville previous month near Fredericksburg, Virginia, General Lee prepared to move north into the Shenandoah Valley, then into Pennsylvania. His opening move was to assemble two of his three infantry corps near Culpeper, shielded by Stuart's huge Cavalry Corps, which was camped six miles to the northeast at Brandy Station, near the Rappahannock River. Lee had planned to screen his northward move with a cavalry raid against Union supply lines across the Rappahannock, while his third infantry corps remained in Fredericksburg to mask the disappearance of the bulk of Lee's army.

Union commander Major General Joe Hooker, meanwhile, intended to blunt any such raid by striking first across the Rappahannock with his own cavalry. Cavalry Corps commander Pleasonton planned to scatter the Confederate cavalry, which he thought was alone at Culpeper, by an elaborate two-prong crossing of the Rappahannock. His right wing, 5,500 cavalry and one infantry brigade under Brigadier General John Buford, would cross at Beverly's Ford. His left wing, 2,500 cavalry and an infantry brigade under Brigadier General David M. Gregg, would splash across the river a full eight miles upstream at Kelly's Ford, and the two columns would converge on the west side of the river at the town of Brandy Station.

Pleasonton, however, was unaware that Stuart had concentrated his cavalry not at Culpeper, but adjacent to the fords of the Rappahannock. It was here, then, that Buford's men struck him, immediately after their initial plunge across the fog-shrouded river in the early morning hours of June 9.

The Southern horsemen were from Brigadier General William "Grumble" Jones's brigade, which collided with Buford's leading brigade and temporarily blunted its progress. Realizing that his direct route to Brandy Station was blocked, Buford tried to turn the Confederate left. Here again, however, he was blocked by Brigade General W.H.F. "Rooney" Lee's brigade.

The Confederates facing Buford were soon forced to pull back by the approach of Gregg's wing of the Union cavalry corps in their rear. After crossing at Kelly's Ford, Gregg's troopers had initially been obstructed by the cavalrymen of Brigadier General Beverly Robertson's brigade. Leaving his infantry to pin Robertson, Gregg had taken a circuitous route to his destination at Brandy Station, and his lead brigade, under Colonel Percy Wyndham, arrived in Brandy Station about 11:00 a.m. Between Gregg and the battle still raging between Buford and Stuart was only the lone eminence of Fleetwood Hill.

As Wyndham charged up the western slope of the hill, the lead elements of Grumble Jones's Brigade, just withdrawn from the battle with Buford's men, appeared on the crest. Gregg's second brigade, led by Colonel Judson Kilpatrick then arrived and attacked the southern end of the hill to the right of Wyndham, but was checked by the arrival of Hampton's Confederate Brigade. At the same time, "Rooney" Lee, reinforced by Colonel Thomas Munford, attacked Buford's exhausted troopers on the northern end of Fleetwood. Pleasonton, realizing that he would be unable to unite the two wings of his command, called the retreat, and the battle was over.

Stuart's men thus held field at the end of the Battle of Brandy Station. However, the Union troopers had fought the Confederate leader to a tactical draw, and Stuart's invincible mystique was shattered. The battle was an important milestone in the ascendancy of the Union cavalry in the East, announcing the end of Confederate superiority in the mounted arm.